'AHS: Freak Show' Twisty Theory: He Takes Kids So He Can Build His Own Family

If you're watching American Horror Story this season, you may have already had a few clown-centric nightmares. It shouldn't come as a surprise — the American Horror Story: Freak Show villain, Twisty the Clown, is far and away the scariest thing to come out of Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk's creepy anthology series. Not only does Twisty look horrifying, but he also happens to be a serial killer making Jupiter, Fla., his hunting grounds. But the strangest thing about Twisty isn't who he kills, it's who he doesn't — namely, the kids he has locked away on the school bus. Of course the real mystery is why Twisty is kidnapping these kids.

So far Twisty has three captives: a teenage girl, a young boy, and a teenage boy. He keeps them on his makeshift school bus prison and refuses to let them go... even though it doesn't seem like he wants to hurt them. Twisty is no stranger to brutal, unwarranted murder, and I doubt that Twisty is letting the children live because of some sort of moral code. (I'm pretty sure that flew out the window when he decided to slice and dice the toy store clerk.) There has to be something special about the kids that Twisty is letting live, and I have a theory about what it could be: What if Twisty is building a family of his very own?

The spoilers suggest that there is a reason for Twisty's "twisted" behavior, and that while it won't justify his actions (because, really, how could it?) it may make us see a more "human" side to this monster. According to Dandy Mott actor Finn Wittrock's interview with TVLine, we will learn about Twisty's backstory in the fourth episode of the season, "Edward Mordrake Part II," and it will help viewers see a "humanity" in Twisty. Wittrock is quick to point out that doesn't necessarily mean Twisty will be any less scary, but it does mean his motives for murder and kidnapping extend past craziness.

The spoiler suggests that Twisty may have had a traumatic event happen to him years earlier which caused him to become the evil clown he is today. My theory? Something happened to Twisty's family that completely broke him — and made him want to recreate the family he lost by any means necessary. That would explain why Twisty takes very specific children. After taking the teenager and the young boy, Twisty went back into town and kidnapped an older teenage boy — and left his little sister completely unharmed. It's also worth mentioning that all three children look very similar to one another, despite not being related — Twisty could be looking to replace the family he lost.

If that is the case, it would make the audience sympathize with Twisty — at least until he slices and dices his next murder victim, of course. It will be hard to the audience to ever truly feel for this psychopath, but I'm glad to know that there is a backstory to this crazed killer, and I can't wait to peel back the layers and find out exactly what that is.